Men in skirts - why don't more men wear skirts?

[CervixSampler]

At the risk of a bun fight this is a genuine question.
I was at a rock festival yesterday and there were a few men in skirts rocking the whole steampunk look. One guy was in a red tartan kilt but I didn't get a good look at the rest of his outfit-he was quite different to the others dressed in steampunk. I think it was a denim jacket. These men looked amazing and it got me thinking as to why when women now wear trousers (as opposed to historically predominantly being in dresses and skirts), that men don't wear skirts to the same extent. Is it socialisation? Blatant sexism? Practicalities? Lack of availability outside of cosplay type retailers? I prefer trousers/jeans because I hate my legs, I'd end up with it caught in my knickers, thigh rub, the whole tights/stockings/socks/footwear issue and my tendency to sit legs akimbo. I love dresses but sadly we aren't compatible.

My ds is 6 and chose to wear a flower crown. There were plenty of men also wearing these. A Slayer T-shirt and a flower crown combo is an unusual look on a man but no one batted an eye. Maybe festivals are some kind of alternative universe in general where people are more likely to flout restrictive norms for clothing? Whatever it is I found it fantastic.

I'm just watching How To Train Your Dragon for the millionth time and I've only just noticed that a few of the male characters wear skirts or in the case of Fishlegs a kind of shift dress.

I can see myself going down a history of clothing rabbit hole with this but yesterday really piqued my interest and got me wondering why it's acceptable for women to wear trousers but not for men to wear skirts/dresses.

[Bellagonna]

Too few pockets.

DD asked me why my pockets were fake on my jeans and I had to exlaon that the male gaze prefers a streamlined look so we don't get pockets, but men get pockets that hold the kitchen sink

[Blibbyblobby]

Funny, I was just talking about this today.

Very culturally specific, obviously.

But it seems very odd to me that the sex with stuff hanging between their legs got the trousers and the one without got the skirt. You'd think things would be more comfy the other way round.

Plus dresses and skirts (with hefty tights) are so super practical and comfy. I'm surprised blokes didn't bag them like they bagged everything else!

[KimikosNightmare]

They're really practical I think. Sitting down at work all day I find them much more comfortable than trousers, and they have the advantage of being cooler and airy in hot weather. I prefer a nightdress for the same reasons

And heavier weight wool and lined skirts in winter. Of all the impractical garments personally I think jeans top the list- far too hot in warm weather and horrible in cold weather.

[Peanutsandchilli]

Because skirts are made to fit women's bodies and not men's. It's not like they can walk into a high street store and take their pick. The option is only there for men who willingly go out of their way to find one, and presumably pay more for the privilege.

Why does everything have to be equal though? Can't women have something that's just theirs?

[ExtremelyDisorganised]

Because they find them uncomfortable and impractical compared to trousers (same reason I mainly wear trousers).

[TalbotAMan]

@Blibbyblobby

Funny, I was just talking about this today.

Very culturally specific, obviously.

But it seems very odd to me that the sex with stuff hanging between their legs got the trousers and the one without got the skirt. You'd think things would be more comfy the other way round.

Plus dresses and skirts (with hefty tights) are so super practical and comfy. I'm surprised blokes didn't bag them like they bagged everything else!

The theory is that trousers were devised by the (Ghengis Khan-era) Mongols as they made horse-riding easier. Meanwhile, women stayed in long skirts until the invention of "indoor plumbing".

[SquirryTheSquirrel]

@SimonJT

Lots of us do, I wear traditional dresses sometimes (sherwani), I have a really comfy sweat material one (like in the picture, but I’ve cut the sleeves off) and a grey linen one, I don’t wear the fancy ones unless its an event like a wedding.

A lot of men where I work wear the linen version of those sherwani on 'dress down' summer Fridays - they always look very cool and comfortable.

[Booknooks]

@Bellagonna

Too few pockets.

DD asked me why my pockets were fake on my jeans and I had to exlaon that the male gaze prefers a streamlined look so we don't get pockets, but men get pockets that hold the kitchen sink

Yesss, I even worse is when clothes have fake pockets. On the whole male clothes are usually more practical, whereas women's not so much.

[TalbotAMan]

@Peanutsandchilli

Because skirts are made to fit women's bodies and not men's. It's not like they can walk into a high street store and take their pick. The option is only there for men who willingly go out of their way to find one, and presumably pay more for the privilege.

Why does everything have to be equal though? Can't women have something that's just theirs?

Women can have something that's 'just theirs', as long as men can too.

I'm sure the clothing industry would be perfectly capable of making skirts to fit men's bodies if there was enough demand for them to make it worth their while.

[SquirryTheSquirrel]

Besides most men don’t have the legs for it.

Should that matter? If someone posted on here that women should only wear skirts if they had good legs, they'd get their arse handed to them and rightly so.

[joystir59]

I love the mixing up of clothing! I love it when men go against the grain and wear dresses and make up. Hate it when men do that and claim they are women though.

[TalbotAMan]

@Bellagonna

Too few pockets.

DD asked me why my pockets were fake on my jeans and I had to exlaon that the male gaze prefers a streamlined look so we don't get pockets, but men get pockets that hold the kitchen sink

The first woman/girl (18 at the time) I dated, 45 years ago (yikes) had a mid-length skirt with deep pockets.

[Blibbyblobby]

My wedding dress had pockets

[MargosKaftan]

Skirts are more logical for men in summer, im sure they have need for air round bits.


Didn't David Beckham rock the sarong look one heatwave in the early 00s? Pity more men didn't adopt. Maybe next heatwave David can get out the old sarong and be photoed looking cool, see if a younger generation would go for it.

[TeiTetua]

It's interesting that handbags are so ubiquitous for women and never seen carried by a man! Somehow nobody ever mentions it. But it obviously affects the requirement for pocketswomen have an alternative. One wonders what men in skirts do with their possessionssporrans of course, but they're not common even among kiltmen.

Young women must have given up on pockets completely, or leggings wouldn't have conquered the world.

[Lessthanaballpark]

Women started wearing trousers (which initially looked like bloomer) because it was more practical for cycling, which was pretty liberating for them.

Men have no such motivation to take on women's clothing.

[KimikosNightmare]

@Blibbyblobby

My wedding dress had pockets

Almost all my dresses have pockets.

[catzwhiskas]

Why would any decent man want to wear something that misogynist men’s rights activists like so much?

[KimikosNightmare]

It's interesting that handbags are so ubiquitous for women and never seen carried by a man!

Loads of men carry bags. My husband and son both have cross- body "man bags". Husband finds it far easier to have his reading glasses, distance glasses, cards, phone and heart medication all together in one place rather than stuffed in various pockets.

[KimikosNightmare]

@TeiTetua

It's interesting that handbags are so ubiquitous for women and never seen carried by a man! Somehow nobody ever mentions it. But it obviously affects the requirement for pocketswomen have an alternative. One wonders what men in skirts do with their possessionssporrans of course, but they're not common even among kiltmen.

Young women must have given up on pockets completely, or leggings wouldn't have conquered the world.

Cross body pocket bags-, far, far more secure than stuffing your phone and cards in the back pocket of jeans.

[KittenKong]

My dad had one back in the 70s. He bought it in France (one of those dinky bags the men carried) and said it was incredibly sensible and very useful. He used to use it in Scotland all the time.

[TeiTetua]

Cross body pocket bags-, far, far more secure than stuffing your phone and cards in the back pocket of jeans.

They do exist, but men don't use them much. It would make sense if men in skirts or dresses carried them, though.

[MargosKaftan]

Rucksacks. So many men carry rucksacks. Really more practical than a handbag, spreads the weight better.



But yes, if your phone, wallet and keys fit in your pockets, if those are the only things you need, why would you bother with a bag?

[Marguerite2000]

They just don't want to, or at least not in western industrialised societies. I won't speak for other cultures.
Even where there's no taboo, eg Scotland. You still don't see men wearing them for everyday dress. If they wanted to wear them they would.
Many women also prefer trousers. I would say the majority do, certainly in winter.

[NiceGerbil]

Globally they do. And dresses.

Or at least things wrapped around the waist/ loose long things over whole body.

It's cultural that's all.

If the fashion houses started pushing them, footballers etc were seen in them and they were all over the shops then they'd be bought.

There's a massive cultural issue though and it would take long time!

And of course they would be styled differently to the styles produced for women.

Women would in large numbers not be keen either I suspect.

Just remembered in a pic of my granny as a child with her siblings the younger children are all in dresses (dress type garments) irrespective of sex.

Why don't they wear them? Gender norms in England. Other countries around the globe plenty of garments that meet the criteria but aren't linked to women.